That’s An Original Idea Jay… Or Is It?

It’s often bizarre what your google reader will throw at you for news. Today, for example I was sent the news “Drew Barrymore Drives Jay Leno’s Focus”. Now, even here in the UK we know Leno has a fair old stash of cars. Though the Ford Focus was pretty much the last thing I expected him to have sat in his garage / hanger / museum.

Well, the twist is that it’s an electric Ford Focus. A car that – having been unveiled in prototype form in Frankfurt – is used in his Green Car Challenge; a feature of his show where celebrities drive it around a track and compete for the fastest lap time.

So, a chat show, a celebrity guest, a race track and not-so-glamorous car – the Ford Focus. Swindon and UK viewers may well recognise this format as being from that of our very own Top Gear. A show where, each week, a celebrity guest sits down, has a chat and races a not-so-glamorous car around a track competing for the best lap time. Sounds strangely familiar, especially given that Jay Leno has been a guest on Top Gear and taken part in the challenge.

The only difference, really, is that Leno is using an electric Ford Focus and it can, therefore, be counted as an attempt to further the cause of alternative fuels. Still, it’s a very, very close take on the Top Gear format.